Date of Conferral
2022
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Dr. Barbara Barrett
Abstract
" Abstract" Development of a Basic Nursing Education Course for Psychiatric NursesThe integration of psychiatric and medical services for psychiatric patients has been problematic for psychiatric nurses. This care integration problem revealed the lack of clinician education and training needed to meet the diverse needs of psychiatric patients. The lack of clinician education and training resulted in poor patient outcomes that can also have negative implications for nurses, families, organizations, and communities. Proper education and training were necessary to effectively care for psychiatric patients with common physical health conditions such as cardiac diseases and diabetes at the inpatient facility where this project was conducted. This project focused on providing education to psychiatric nurses about caring for patients on a psychiatric unit who were diagnosed with chronic medical conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes to increase nurses’ knowledge about providing safe and effective care to these patients. Lewin’s change model guided this project. A pretest/posttest design was used to evaluate nurses’ knowledge prior to and after the educational intervention. The project involved 34 voluntary nurse participants, a less than expected number of participants, which was attributed to meeting the COVID-19 pandemic mandates. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the project data. The data analysis revealed a 31.25% increase in nurses’ knowledge from 61.25% pretest to 92.50% posttest, which suggests that education enhanced their knowledge of common physical health conditions. The positive results of this project can be used to support continued education for psychiatric nurses as they care for patients who are also diagnosed with medical conditions to increase nurses’ knowledge and improve patient outcomes, which can positively impact social change.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Tasha M., "Development of a Basic Nursing Education Course for Psychiatric Nurses" (2022). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 13477.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/13477
